Assessment

Information about assessment in the new National Curriculum

As you may know, a new National Curriculum came into operation this September for children in Years 1, 3, 4 and 5. It is a statutory requirement from the Department for Education that we teach these year groups according to the new curriculum. However children in Years 2 and 6 are still working to the previous National Curriculum. From next September, all Years 1-6 will be working to the new curriculum.

One of the features of the new National Curriculum is that it no longer uses a system of numbered ‘levels’ to describe children’s attainment. This is because it was felt by the DfE that the use of levels had at times been detrimental to children. For example, talking to children about their attainment using numbered levels could contribute towards their developing a “fixed mindset” about their ability, whereas we want to foster in all our children a “growth mindset”, meaning that we believe that we can all improve our abilities with practice, effort and persistence. We would also like to further enrich our pupils’ learning by developing a greater breadth of skills and knowledge, so that they are confident to apply their skills to different areas of the curriculum, rather than focus on moving to the ‘next level’.

Pupils will still be familiar with their ‘next steps’ learning targets as a way of ensuring maximum opportunity for progress but there will be no emphasis on what numerical level they are working at.

This national change – the removal of levels – means that, when we discuss your child’s attainment with you, either in meetings or written reports, we will no longer be reporting levels*, as these no longer have any relevance to the curriculum. Instead we will refer to your child’s current level of attainment using phrases such as:

working within the expected range of attainment for his/her age

working towards the expected range of attainment

working below the expected range of attainment

working beyond the expected range of attainment

We will also comment on whether your child has made good progress over the year, and give details of any specific areas of the curriculum where he/she has achieved well and any areas where further development or support is needed.

We trust that you will continue to find the information we provide about your child’s education useful and informative. Please do not hesitate to speak to us if you would like to know more details about how your child is progressing in school.

Levels will be reported at the end of Year 2 and Year 6 this year only. After that, levels will no longer be in use for any year group.